Chapter Text
[0.]
The ball comes barreling towards him.
Asahi leans forward, jutting his arms outward. He tracks it so that it will make perfect contact with the skin of his lower forearm, right above his wrists.
One’s unblemished, just the natural tan skin he’s always had since birth. The other wrist is where his TiMER sits, a small piece of plastic with a digital screen. It’s like a stopwatch. There’s one column to display the days, one for the hours, then minutes, and seconds.
Except, instead of numbers, his columns all show dashes. Solid blinking bold lines. Unchanging.
Thwap!
Asahi jolts back in surprise, having been distracted by the sight of his own TiMER that he took his eyes off the ball. It bounces sloppily off his arm and careens into the wall off to left.
“Sorry!” He shouts in response, right as the coach yells "what was that" at him from across the net, Nishinoya following up with an annoyed cry of “Asahi, pay attention” from somewhere behind him.
“Sorry!” He repeats with a bow, embarrassed at making such a mistake for the third time today. “I promise I won’t do it again!”
They have a practice match scheduled for this week. He can’t afford to mess this up for them because of a dumb piece of plastic.
‘Dumb piece of plastic,’ he says again inside his head. If only he actually believed that.
\
In junior high, Asahi remembered looking forward to nothing more than his fourteenth birthday. The day where he’d finally be eligible to get his own TiMER.
His second year was the most exciting leading up to it. All around him, fourteenth birthdays were being hit. Students were coming to class and showing off their countdowns. Some were closer to zero than others, but practically everyone had numbers. Definite solid numbers on their clock, counting down to the day that they’d meet their soulmate. The person they were destined to spend the rest of their life with. Their One.
Watching a meeting happen was always exciting and a cause for celebration. There were few but, when it happened, everyone present would erupt in shouts for the two who shared eye contact, their TiMERs chiming in unison at their destined meeting.
It was rare to have a fast countdown, so Asahi had only ever witnessed two meetings in his second year. Both times he’d clapped with others in congratulations, wondering what his own would look like.
He’d thought about it previously, a passing thought in his young life, before the idea began to surface more and more frequently as he got closer to being of age. It was hard not to think about it, what with his own mother being a Matchmaker.
He’d been lucky enough to be brought along with her on the job at times. They’d go to different homes where he was able to witness the magic of her TiMER installation first hand. There were the boring legal parts, of course, but Asahi remembered clearly the way people’s faces lit up at the sight of their numbers and the joy that followed. Sometimes families would be nice enough to share their own stories of how they timed out while he was there.
Somewhere along the way, at 12 years old, Asahi found himself moved and wanting to meet someone special who would change his life forever.
Which was why, the night of his fourteenth birthday, he could hardly sit still knowing it was finally going to happen. He was going to get a TiMER.
“Asahi,” his mother reprimanded him when he’d shifted yet again on the sofa. She readjusted the implantation tool in her grasp. “You need to hold your wrist completely still for me as I do this, okay? I’d hate to hurt you while doing my job.”
“Sorry.” He tried to apologize, but it came out as a high pitched squeak.
His mother smiled knowingly, shaking her head before briefly meeting the eyes of his father sitting next to him. He heard him chuckle and Asahi blushed a little at this. Both of his parents knew just how much the idea of a soulmate meant to him.
It meant the end of sleepless nights alone. The end of wondering whether he would have someone to share his favorite books. The end of pessimistic thoughts that no one would ever like him enough to stick around. The end of thinking that there wasn’t someone out there he was meant for.
The sting of the device being implanted only made him yelp a little before he sat up in a rush of excitement, eyes glued to the dull screen. It powered on. The titles of the columns appeared and then, right where there should have been numbers, dashes appeared.
Like a broken digital watch.
“Mom?” He had heard, rather than felt himself say, voice trembling and unsure. He did not know what was happening at the time, but he already knew it wasn’t good and was set to go straight into panic mode until his mother calmly spoke up.
“It’s fine,” he remembered her saying. “It happens. Not everyone turns fourteen at the same time, remember? Your One just hasn’t come of age to get one yet.”
“Oh,” Asahi gave a nervous laugh then. He figured then that his clock would start by his third year.
During that time, he made friends with a small group of kids at the back of his class who also had blank TiMERs. The reactions due to their predicament appeared to be torn in two. Half were optimistic and looked excitedly to the day their dashes would disappear. The other half had this snobby, “fuck it” attitude, constantly talking about how they didn’t care about the stupid TiMER. It just told you when you’d meet your soulmate. They had been living without them for years and they could deal without them for more. No big deal, right?
But even Asahi could see through it. Like everyone else, they got this look of utter relief on their face once the faint chime went off, signaling the start of their countdown.
One by one, they all graduated to the world of normality, the world of working TiMERs, until only he and one other boy remained in his third year.
He and Sawamura formed a close friendship over this. Two lonely boys with broken TiMERs, they met up regularly for lunches and study sessions outside of school. Asahi would share his worries about their circumstance from time to time but, where others might share the same sentiment with every day that passed, Sawamura remained hopeful. He was determined not to let it break him and his optimism kept Asahi grounded in a way no one else could.
They started their first year of senior high together and, for the first time in a long time, the worries about his TiMER disappeared in the excitement of joining the volleyball club and meeting new people. It began to shake him less when he would meet classmates who had working TiMERs because Sawamura was always by his side. He too was lost in a sea of people who knew they would find their soulmates, but he still found a way to fully enjoy each moment of every day.
One time Asahi nervously joked during practice, “What if we just ended up never having our countdown start, wouldn’t it be scary? Being twenty something and still alone.”
“Yeah, I think I could live with that.” Sawamura responded, shoes scuffing the polished floor as he leaned back against the wall.
Asahi was taken aback by such an answer, expecting instead for Sawamura to have told him that it was ridiculous, that something like that wouldn’t happen to them. But when he met Sawamura’s eyes, he saw that he was serious. Asahi sat up from his slouch on the floor, stunned. “How. . . can you . . .?”
Sawamura offered him a small smile, “Just because you don’t know when you’ll meet your soulmate doesn’t mean you can’t form some great relationships along the way.”
Asahi took a moment to process that, blinking almost owlishly. It was something that should have been obvious, but wasn’t. Not with the way everyone constantly compared countdowns.
“Now, come on.” Sawamura nudged him with his foot. “I see you trying to get out of your cool down exercises.”
“Daichi. . .”
Eventually, Asahi decided that, if his friend could be brave enough to face a soulmate-less future, then he could do it too. Sawamura was inspirational like that and Asahi had a feeling that it was possible, maybe, as long as he and Sawamura were in it together.
And they were. Until Sawamura met Suga.
Well, technically, Sawamura had already met Suga. They’d both befriended him upon entering senior high school their first year and quickly became a trio that was always found together during volleyball practice.
Suga was an odd one for sure, because he was the only one that Asahi and Sawamura had ever met that didn’t have a TiMER. Upon meeting him, it was one of the first things Asahi had noticed, the blankness of his right wrist.
He must’ve been staring pretty hard because Suga noticed. Laughing, he had brought his hand forward, outstretching it plainly for the both of them to see, “Oh this? Yeah, I know it’s weird I don’t have one, but I’ll be getting one soon! I hope!”
Asahi apologized, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to force you to have to explain yourself!” Which only made Suga laugh even more, Sawamura joining in, but not before further teasing him about how rude it was to stare.
They came to learn the reason Suga didn’t have a TiMER had more to do with personal matters than anything else. Suga came from a huge family, he’d several brothers as well as sisters. However, when his eldest brother before him got his TiMER, it’d destroyed him. His countdown said he wouldn’t meet his One until he was in his fifties. Suga said he made some bad choices as a result, and it made his parents seriously reconsider when it came to getting Suga his own TiMER.
“They’re still on the fence of it,” Suga explained during that first year of knowing him. But he believed that his parents would come around from the scare. He told them that he didn’t mind waiting.
During their first year and into their second, Suga and Sawamura got really close. Asahi was close to Suga sure, but there was an obvious difference of who Suga was closer to. It was obvious in the way that Suga looked at Sawamura when he was talking, a small smile playing across his lips. It was obvious in the way Sawamura’s eyes lit up whenever Suga threw his head back and laughed. Obvious in the way they walked together, their arms brushing when they turned corners, their chins ducking in shyness nearly each time it happened.
Asahi hadn’t meant to say anything about it once he started noticing, but then he and Sawamura were left alone reading in the library once, and it just came out. “Daichi, you really like Suga, huh?”
Sawamura stiffened, his fringe covering his eyes, and Asahi could’ve smacked himself right across the face.
“I, I mean, not that it’s any of my business!” He stuttered out, hand coming to scratch at his neck. “I just couldn’t help noticing, was all--”
Sawamura shifted in his seat then, causing Asahi’s mouth to snap shut. Asahi felt the blood drain from his face as he internally cursed at himself for not shutting up.
But when Sawamura looked up, he was not as upset as Asahi thought he’d be. He just had this troubled frown on his face. “I suppose there’s no hiding it from you of all people.”
‘Well, there’s no hiding it from anyone if you keep looking at Suga the way you do.’ Asahi thought, but did not say in response to that.
Sawamura sighed and sat back, fingertips tapping along the edges of his book. “It doesn’t matter though, Asahi.”
“Why not? You both get along well.” He said in encouragement. “And it’s not like Suga has a TiMER--”
Asahi stopped, realizing his mistake.
Sawamura met his eyes, finishing for him what they both knew, “yet. He doesn’t have one, yet.”
There was a pause before Sawamura continued, “He’s going to get one someday and I can’t start something like that with him when he’s got someone else out there who’s waiting for him. It’s not right.”
‘It’s like cheating.’ Asahi heard the implied conclusion and the conversation ended there because, really, there was no point in arguing with that.
Sawamura’s determination to not do anything, however, put a strain on both he and Suga. The tension was visible in the way Sawamura cut their length of contact, sliding out from under Suga’s arm when it was thrown around his neck. He began to stop the two of them from ever being alone, usually dragging Asahi or one of the first years in between them as a buffer.
When Sawamura began talking to Suga in a more formal manner, Suga lost all patience. It lead to a fight in the clubroom that exploded almost as soon as Asahi closed the door behind him. No fists were thrown but there was plenty of yelling, and while Asahi wasn’t able to hear the whole thing, he did catch parts.
“I’m doing this for you!” Sawamura yelled.
“I didn’t ask for you to do anything for me!” Suga snapped back. “I’m capable of making my own decisions!”
He did not know how that argument between them was resolved that day, but he figured that it did not end on a good note once he met up with Sawamura the next morning. There were circles under his eyes and his face was grim. Asahi did not ask about it, for his sake.
Suga and Sawamura did not talk that week. It was the most miserable week that Asahi could remember having for a long time. He preferred not to have his friends fighting and volleyball practice became more tense than ever since they were both under the same roof.
He did not know if either of them were capable of holding a grudge for a long time and was wondering whether it would be better if he hung out with his classmates for a while, when Sawamura texted him, ‘I think I’m going to apologize to him.’
Asahi texted back immediately, ‘I think that’s a good idea.’
‘And maybe . . . he was right about some things. We argued (I’m sure you heard) and I was mad at him but he had a point. I think. He doesn’t have a TiMER, mine isn’t working. There’s no telling if he’s my One or not. People took chances when dating in the past so why can’t I?’
Asahi bit his lip, wanting to remind Sawamura that the reason for taking those “chances” back then was because they didn’t have TiMERs that would guarantee whether a relationship would work or not.
But Sawamura appeared to have his mind made up and, before Asahi could so much as get a word in, he received the text. ‘I think I’m going to ask him out tomorrow? Back me up?’
‘He must really want this to be thinking about it this way,’ Asahi remembered thinking.
He’d only had enough time to respond with a ‘yes’ before he got a scolding for bringing his phone to the dinner table.
The next day, even if it wasn’t him making these decisions, Asahi was nervous for his friends. A part of him knew that Suga would be receptive if Sawamura asked him out though. He had been open to it for a while now as it was all over his body language. It was just Sawamura who was afraid. Now that Sawamura had appeared to have gathered some courage, it was all a matter of getting them together in the same location.
‘There’ll probably still be some yelling.’ Asahi remembered thinking, ‘since Suga will see Sawamura and think he’ll have appeared to lecture him. But in the end, it’ll work out.’
That was his train of thought until he was eating lunch with Suga on one of the tables outside. ‘He’s quiet today,’ Asahi had noticed, but hadn’t known why until Suga reached over to grab his drink, the sleeve of his uniform riding up just enough for Asahi to catch it. The outline of green, the digital screen displaying unwavering zeroes.
He was barely able to get the words out, “S-suga you-u.”
Suga seemed to have forgotten, or had been trying to ignore it, because it took a moment for him to realize. When he did, he looked down at his wrist, laughing bitterly. “Yeah, can you believe it? Just got mine the other day and I immediately zeroed out at midnight.”
For many people, that’d be great news, but Suga sounded far from happy about it. He yanked the sleeve of his jacket down over it and swallowed hard. “It looks like I’m gonna meet my One today. Whoever they are.”
“Worst timing ever.” The words slipped out as a shocked whisper from Asahi’s mouth before he could think about it.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Suga laughed in agreement, but then had to stop, his voice completely breaking. His hands flew up to cover his glazed eyes in an instant and he fell silent and Asahi knew, even if he’d never seen it before, this was Suga broken-hearted. “Gods, why couldn’t it be blank or broken or something? I was hoping it would be, then I, then Daichi could . . .”
“Suga,” Asahi started, hand lifting to pat his shoulder, “I’m s--”
He didn’t get to finish because in an instant he heard Sawamura’s voice, calling from behind.
He jumped to his feet in alarm. There was no way Sawamura knew.
“Change of plans!” Sawamura shouted as he came to an abrupt stop a few feet in front of him. He was panting and his eyes were wide. He did not notice Suga’s form, sitting behind Asahi.
“I can’t ask him. Damn it, I cannot believe I missed my own countdown!” And here Sawamura held up his wrist, shaking it vigorously. “I slept right through it and I just noticed the stupid zeroes and, damn, Asahi I always thought I’d be happy about it but then the thing with Suga happened and we were finally about to," He stops to take a breath. "This is the worst timing ever. Damn it!”
Sawamura looked ready to kick something and he might have very well done so, until Suga made his presence known, standing up and starting to speak in a distraught voice, “You too, huh, this su--”
He didn’t get to finish because once they locked eyes it started. The twinkling chime went off, once, twice, in unison from both of their outstretched wrists.
They continued staring long after the noise had faded, as if they could hardly believe it. Asahi could hardly believe it himself, caught in the middle of it all, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two that were frozen like stone.
Then, in an instant, Suga broke the silence with a scream and tackled Sawamura who began blinking frantically in a vain attempt to hold back tears.
Not much happened afterward, aside from laughter and kissing and the repeated comment that they should’ve recorded it on camera because there was no way anyone would believe something like this happened in real life. It was an unbelievable coincidence. A story straight out of a rom-com movie.
At the time, Asahi remembered being so thrilled for both Sawamura and Suga. They had family gatherings to celebrate their union, talked about it to some friends, and even jokingly worked on a screenplay about it for a while. He was so caught up in the excitement that followed that he forgot to worry so much about his own still broken TiMER. That was until another birthday came and went, second year turned into third year, new first years replaced previous third years, and Asahi realized.
He was all alone.